This is a photo blog of self expression. All the images I post are self assignments driven by the need for more creativity in my life. This is my escape from the everyday shooting as a professional photographer.

Friday, September 17, 2010

This image was shot during the last Advance Photography field trip in Tremont. Exposure info: f-32 at 30 sec. ISO 200 lens 17mm. I needed to have every thing in focus so I chose the smallest lens opening possible. With this tiny lens opening I had to use a very slow shutter speed which caused the motion of the water to become smooth and almost fog like. A shutter speed of 1/30 or slower will show motion while extreme depth of field will is possible at f-32. I had to use a tripod because holding for 30 seconds and producing a sharp image is impossible. A good rule of thumb is your shutter speed should match your lens length in order to be able to hand hold your camera.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

I took my family up to Foothills Parkway tonight to star gaze and maybe see some of the fireworks at Booms Day in Knoxville. The fire works were too far away and were quite small but the stars were out in all of their glory. I shot this 30 second exposure with my camera on a tripod and lucked out in catching some traffic as it zoomed by. I was shooting with a 17mm wide angle at f-3.5 at ISO 1000. My white balance was set for tungsten light to give the sky a blue color. It was a good clear night with a little bit of a chill in the air.

The sky and trees lite by evening light reflecting off of the water created a nice background for this duck in Dollywood. I used a 200 mm telephoto lens at f-stop 2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/250. The large lens opening of f-2.8 helped put the background out of focus.
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Thursday, September 2, 2010

I was at Dollywood with my family and of course my camera when I saw these wild ducks in a pond next to one of the water rides. I am always looking for interesting subject whereever I am. In fact I like to find things in places that most people do not considered a great location for photography. The evening light helped the colors to pop. I used a 200mm telephoto lens with an f-stop of 2.8 which produced a shallow depth of field . The shutter speed was set at 1/250 to freeze the fast swimming duck. The lush green vegetation turned the pond into a colorful background for the duck.